Tories under attack over Ashcroft

David Cameron is still fighting to draw a line under the Lord Ashcroft affair amid more questions over what senior Tory figures knew about his tax status, and when.

The Electoral Commission cleared the party of accepting impermissible donations of more than £5 million from a company owned by the billionaire businessman.

Senior Tories are battling to draw a line under the furore over Lord Ashcroft

But the watchdog also criticised the Conservatives for not allowing staff to be interviewed as part of its inquiry.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Cameron himself only learned that Lord Ashcroft was a non-dom, meaning he does not pay full tax in the UK, around a month ago.

By contrast his effective deputy William Hague has admitted knowing at least a month before that – sparking queries over why he failed to tell his leader.

The row was given a further injection of life when an influential Commons committee announced it would be holding a one-day inquiry into the award of Lord Ashcroft’s peerage, promising further scrutiny of the affair as a general election looms.

The Electoral Commission’s 18-month inquiry concluded that £5.1 million of donations from Bearwood Corporate Services (BCS), a firm owned by Lord Ashcroft, had been permissible. However, it complained of being denied direct access to Tory officers and staff.

Commission chairwoman Jenny Watson said she was “disappointed” but that her organisation had no legal powers to force the issue.

Labour MP John Mann, whose complaint to the watchdog prompted its investigation, said the report posed more questions than it answered. “Insufficient evidence is a theme of this report, and one of the reasons for insufficient evidence, which is quite extraordinary, is that David Cameron’s top officials wouldn’t co-operate with it, they wouldn’t meet,” he said.

“Same old Tories – so much for transparency and openness. Here we have the public body that monitors political parties and senior Conservative officials refused to meet them to answer questions.”